VIFF movie review | Koneline: our land beautiful

Koneline: our land beautiful

Written and directed by Nettie Wild, cinematography by Van Royko

Premieres at VIFF Oct. 3, 6:30 p.m., Vancouver Playhouse; Oct. 9 screening is sold out.

Also runs Oct 28 to Nov. 10, at Vancity Theatre

More info: viff.org

We are accustomed to documentaries that pit aboriginal values against those of big business. But what of a scenario in which a First Nation is split, with some members fully on board with resource development and the economic benefits that flow back to their community?

Nettie Wild. 

Wild presents both sides in the tug of war between traditional and modern values, though pro-development factions tend to be portrayed in a more negative light.

One young Tahltan man working at mining exploration high in the mountains says: “This is our land, this is where our elders grew up. They fought for this land. What they’re fighting for I’m drilling on. Personally, it’s putting food on my kids’ table and a roof over their head.”

Meanwhile, another aboriginal seeking to document his peoples’ language laments that his home is becoming an industrial wasteland. “This is done. The monster is here. It’s over. This is no longer a peaceful haven for me. What I grew up with is over.”

Truth is, despite the roadblocks and opposition, the Tahltan have aggressively approved a slew of developments in their territory, including mining, transmission lines, and run-of-river projects expected to yield billions of dollars over the coming decades.

Ultimately, viewers of this visceral documentary may wind up as conflicted as the First Nation. 

We observe two native hunters roaming gravel roads until they shoot a moose — a female, no less. The elder scolds the younger for shooting it in the head. Better to shoot it in the neck first, then chop off the head to let the carcass bleed out, he says.

Then we follow two white trophy hunters in the high country, seeking out older male Stone sheep with big curls. The trophies are nothing without the memory of the hunt, something that ties them to the land. “When you die, your family throws them all in the garbage, right?” 

This highly evocative film owes much to Van Royko’s moving cinematography: a man dressed in buckskin singing North To Alaska to an audience of stuffed animals; a heart-pounding segment in which a female guide-outfitter shuttles reluctant horses across a fast-flowing river; the slow-motion ballet of ground-workers in a wind storm of dirt and dust guiding a heavy-lift helicopter as it moves a transmission tower into place.

For all its political grey areas, Koneline portrays colour and life and death across a magnificent land undergoing sweeping change.

lpynn@postmedia.com